A divided electorate voting for a myriad of different political groups and parties, resulting to a minority government leading another coalition with the Liberal Democrats or (even better) two or three other minor parties.
This would have hopefully resulted in a reform of the voting system.

What actually happened:

A Conservative majority.
As it would be completely against their benefit, voting reform will now be dead in the water for at least a decade.

My eldest went for her council health assessment.
This was an interview to find out how much financial help her borough was going to give her to help with her raft of health issues.
She had a Chinese interviewer with a strong accent.
Initially she found him rude but realised that it was just his manner and he gave her a generous assessment.
Ultimately it turned out to be good for her finances but bad for her optimism and self esteem.
Her favourite quote…
‘Health be better if you no be fat!’

I took my youngest two children to the traveling Fun Fair temporarily set up near my parents’ house.
It was early evening when I walked them down to the park site, paid the entry fee and bought them £15 worth of tickets for the rides.
Both my children were brave.
Braver than me and I was glad that they’re old enough now to ride without me.
Most of the rides cost £2 or £3 but a few of them were pricier.
They both worked out what they wanted to do and I just followed them around as they ran from one attraction to the next.
Followed them closely as the fun-fair was quite crowded.
They did a couple of the big rides together and then my boy had a go on one of the ‘swindly’ side booths.
‘Win a prize every time!’
£5 for three ‘hook-a-duck’ goes.
You were guaranteed a prize but the prizes offered were only worth about a couple of quid at most.
After that, my little girl wanted to go on…
The Booster!
A horrible ‘sky-high’ ride she went on last year.
It costs £5 though and it’s the last of her tickets.
My son doesn’t want to go on it though and asks if she’ll go on the ‘High chairs’ with him.
She doesn’t have any more tickets though but her brother uses the last of his so she can go with him and still afford a go on the largest, scariest ride…
I was proud of him for his kindness and generosity.
They laugh and I take some pictures.
After that, we take a short break while my little girl marshals her courage for the horrible, seemingly mile-high ‘Booster ride’.
Eventually, she’s ready though and I queue up with her while her brother tries not to look.
I don’t blame him though. The ride is a terrifying giant propeller with a four-seat carriage at either end that rotates freely.
I force myself to watch her and she screams and waves whenever she rockets past me.
After she ‘lands’, I buy some slushies for them both and a bag of candy floss for my Mum, before we amble back up the hill.

I took my youngest two and our dog over to my parents’ house for the Bank holiday afternoon.
Despite him being ill, I bullied my Father into walking the dog with us on the hilly side of Barn Hill.
He went because he’s a good Dad and an Indulgent Granddad.
I however, am a thoughtless son.
My Dad’s currently battling three separate medical problems and yet I still dragged him out to play Frisbee with the children.
He never complained but I caught him wincing a couple of times.
I’m a bad, bad, son.

For my Dad’s birthday, I’d only bought him three small presents for the children to give him.
I’d intended the meal to be my present.
As my brother had generously paid though, I decided to buy him a belated present instead.
Only a token present but something.
I bought him a box set of ‘Must see Musicals’.
It didn’t have all the ones I wanted but enough of them to make it a decent gift.
My Mum and son weren’t that interested but my Dad loves the old musicals and so does his youngest granddaughter.
So far we’ve managed to see ‘42nd Street’, ‘Calamity Jane’ and ‘Annie get your gun’.
42nd Street’ was good but the two ‘Technicolor’ westerns were great!

I think my children miss too much school but I couldn’t argue this time.
My youngest daughter had a really sore throat and a head full of yucky mucus.
Ironically, I think it’s because she’s doing too much sport.

On the recommendation from my eldest; I watched the ‘Coalition’ on 4OD last night.
The hour-and-a-bit show was quality TV and painted Nick Clegg in a pretty good light.
Yes, he came across as more cunning than I imagine he’d probably like to think of himself but overall he seemed a decent man.
Weirdly, so did the bullish Gordon Brown and even David Cameron didn’t seem evil.
The biggest surprise for me though was Peter Mandelson.
Rather than Machiavellian, he was represented as an arrogant but clever realist.
OK, he was still slightly evil but only slightly.

After trying to be loyal to the NHS for over a month, my Dad finally decided to go private.
It’s not as easy as it should be though.
You either have to find a Dr yourself or just go with one recommended by the insurer.
Thankfully my eldest used her recent experience and medical contacts to find a selection of specialists for her Grandpa.
She was super efficient and I was both proud and grateful.
After that, I flapped a bit choosing the best one.
I tried to research the handful of Doctors my daughter had suggested and although websites are great, they’re not perfect or even necessarily accurate.
Surgical results were the most important aspect but location also mattered.
I even got hung up on price and appointment time.
In the end, I suggested the one I considered the best and my Father agreed.
He was expensive but highly recommended.
Only problem was the ten day wait before his first consultation.

My youngest daughter likes a couple of American shows running on channel 4
Melissa & Joey and the Big Bang Theory being two of her favourites.
I’m a fan of the Big Bang but I’ll watch Melissa and Joey when I’m there with her.
I recognized both the leads, placing Melissa was easy.
She was in ‘Sabrina the teenage witch’. One of my eldest’s favourite shows when she was much younger.
Placing where I recognized Joey from was much harder.
I recognized his face and name but in the end, I had to searched him up on the internet.
He was a teenage actor in a show called ‘Blossom’.
Another show I watched with my eldest (albeit repeats).
He was beautiful but even as I watched one of the early episodes, I recognized the girl who played the central character.
It wasn’t until I was watching ‘Big Bang’ a few days later, that I realised that she was now the grown-up ‘Mayim Bialik’ who plays ‘Amy Farrah Fowler’.
Sheldon’s girlfriend on that show.
I guess that this is no real surprise. Actors want to keep on working, so as I grow older, so do they.
Weird watching shows separated by generations with my different children though.